Well, I would dearly love to report to you that we’ve hiked to the top of Hermit’s Peak to have a lunch of beef jerky and dried apricots.

How about that we’ve had to spend 17 hours straight in our little tent because a crazy blizzard blew in, dipping temperatures below freezing and swirling so much snow in through the tent vents that a snowball actually formed itself INSIDE the tent.

Or that we’ve spent a few days in the Uncompahgre Wilderness, not seeing another human, but listening to elk bugle every night.

Yes, I would dearly love to report this… but these are all events from previous “Fall Away Tours”. We always look forward to our time in the mountains. But pitching a tent didn’t pan out for us this year. Couldn’t squeeze a grand tour into the work load, and we have learned from previous experience (see the blizzard comment above) that you just don’t go backpacking too late in the season!

So this week we “settled” for two nights in a lodge in Ruidoso. The fireplace, the good meals, the comfy mattress… well… it’s no green tent… but we managed! We got to breathe the mountain air and smell the pines. Nothing like an Altitude Adjustment!